Who Started Kaizen? from JazzyExpert's blog

Kaizen, or continuous improvement, can help businesses increase efficiency and productivity while creating a healthier workplace for employees.

Kaizen encourages all workers to look for improvements that will enhance the way the company runs, consulting a colleague or supervisor before acting upon any of their ideas. Kaizen provides all workers with an incentive for making positive contributions toward bettering company operations.

William Edwards Deming is widely credited with popularizing the philosophy of Kaizen, visiting Japan after World War II to help rebuild their economy. He stressed management and quality; also advocating placing responsibility for quality improvement with workers themselves instead of managers.

One of the earliest applications of Kaizen was through quality circles - groups of employees that met regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related issues. This method was pioneered by Japanese companies before later being adopted by American ones.

An early application of Kaizen was the PDCA cycle - or Plan, Do, Check and Act. This method was employed to improve manufacturing processes and increase productivity while decreasing waste and improving quality. Now widely employed across numerous industries including healthcare, psychotherapy, life coaching and government.

Toyota, the Japanese car company, is widely recognized as an advocate of the Kaizen philosophy. Their employees consistently look for ways to improve their work - hence being recognized for producing top-of-the-line automobiles.

Kaizen philosophy involves eliminating waste through finding small changes that will reduce costs and boost efficiency, while simultaneously improving employee morale and creating an environment conducive to greater productivity in the long run.

One of the cornerstones of Kaizen is Five Whys questioning, a technique used to discover the source of problems. The idea behind Five Whys is that when something goes wrong, it's best to investigate why before coming up with solutions - this approach has been utilized by Toyota and Lockheed Martin successfully to reduce production costs, inventory levels and delivery times.

In the 1980s, Imai began conducting KAIZEN seminars across America. Companies that attended included Danaher Corporation and Toyota; both implemented this philosophy into their businesses practices.

Kaizen was initially heralded as the key to Japan's economic revival following World War II, and now stands as an invaluable tool. Companies in every industry - both developed and developing - use it as the cornerstone of lean manufacturing.

Masaaki Imai has almost singlehandedly introduced Kaizen to the West through his 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success. Additionally, in 1997 Gemba Kaizen: A Common Sense Low Cost Approach to Management by Masaaki Imai also played an instrumental role in spreading kaizen.

kaizen's principles focus on eliminating waste and creating an environment in which everyone can contribute. Furthermore, teamwork is encouraged and people want to come to work every day; ultimately leading to a stronger company culture and more resilient workforce.

The Kaizen philosophy entails eliminating waste by improving standard activities and processes through small, yet simple measures and actions taken on an ongoing basis. Kaizen can save money, which can then be put towards further projects for improvement.

Kaizen not only improves quality and productivity, but it also encourages teamwork. By breaking down departmental silos and improving communication between departments, staff are better able to think beyond themselves into what their customers' needs might be.

Implementing change gradually is often the best approach, as sudden, drastic changes can generate resistance and pushback from employees. Furthermore, gradual implementation creates a more open workplace in which employees feel free to test out ideas without fear of reprisals from management. Furthermore, gradual implementation facilitates scrutiny of processes to eliminate mistakes and waste; cutting costs associated with oversight inspection; improving production by decreasing inventory levels while increasing efficiency through just-in-time strategies such as JIT production planning.